1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a student training/teaching system and apparatus for simulating audio, visual, tactile and/or other bodily attributes such as pulse, heart and/or respiratory rhythms of animals including humans and methods for using the system and apparatus to train medical professionals.
More particularly, the present invention relates to student training/teaching system and apparatus for computer controlled simulations of audio attributes, visual attributes, tactile attributes and/or other bodily attributes including respiratory, pulse and/or heart rhythms, body coloring, temperature, and the like in a temporally correlated fashion and to methods for using the system and apparatus to train health care providers in the proper use of basic medical equipment for diagnosis such as a stethoscope.
2. Description of the Related Art
As medical science has progressed and medical schools are increasingly under pressure to train new doctors with limited resources, medical school are increasingly relying on non-human interactive formats to teach health care providers skills they will need to successfully treat and care for patient. However, because schools no longer include the degree of direct patient training/teaching, many health care providers are ill equip to utilize the more basic medical equipment like the stethoscope. A stethoscope is a well-known medical instrument for listening to and diagnosing cardiovascular disease, irregularities, or other cardiovascular abnormalities. In fact, many health care providers wear stethoscopes, but are not technically competent to effectively use the stethoscope to detect and diagnosis cardiovascular abnormalities, irregularities or diseases.
Devices have been constructed to simulate animal/human biological function such as simulated heart beats, but the simulations are generally disconnected from other bodily function. Thus, it would represent an advancement in the art to be able to construct a student training/teaching systems and apparatus that would allow for the simulation of many bodily functions in a temporally relevant and visually connected format such as coupling audio attributes such as heart rhythms and breathing patterns, with tactile attributes such as pulse rhythms, with visual attributes such as body coloring and bodily attributes such as temperatures.